Ottawa's Architecture & Design Ideas Lab

JanesWalkOtt: Uptown Rideau

This walk will be a review of the commercial & institutional life of street over previous 125 years, and how it has grown and then declined. Will renewed street services reverse this decline?

Participants will have an opportunity to participate. Let’s discuss hat kinds of future businesses will help integrate the community and which will hurt. What is the role of the 2005 community design plan?

What goes into making a walkable neighbourhood? In my far-flung suburb of Stittsville, Ontario, even a fifteen minute walk won’t get you to the nearest cup of coffee. Here, in the automobile’s natural habitat, an obvious answer is scale. So I was surprised to learn of a local Jane’s Walk of downtown Ottawa, that even human-scaled communities may struggle to become more walkable.

The first challenge they face is culture. Jane’s Walk leader Chris Bradshaw, a funny guy and retired planner, has been a strong advocate of walkable neighbourhoods since the 1980s. Back when the idea of walking from your downtown home to the office was still novel, Bradshaw was organizing pedestrian associations and advocating for car-sharing programs. His local Ottawalk group was the first of its kind in North America, and helped bring walking culture from the margins to the mainstream.